WPCNR STAGE DOOR. March 9, 2004: The White Plains Performing Arts Center continues its limited run of the touring play, It Had to Be You, this evening at 8, starring husband and wife traveling duo, Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor, (Emmy Award-winner for her role of the mom on The Nanny), this evening for the fourth of a string of 3 more performances through Sunday. The play debuted on Broadway in 1981, written by Ms. Taylor and has toured the country the last five years.
SHOWING THE SET: One of America’s most popular traveling acting couples, Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor with The CitizeNetReporter, relaxing before this evening’s performance at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. House lights dim two times Wednesday at 2 PM and 8 PM. Photo by White Plains Performing Arts Center
Tickets are available for Wednesday matinee at 2 and 8 P.M. Shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings are at 8 with a 2 PM matinee on Sunday. The weekend performances are “filled nicely.” Advance Sale has been strong reports Oscar Sales, theatre spokesperson. Patrons may order tickets by calling 1-888-977-2250.
WPCNR met the acting duo in their dressing rooms Tuesday afternoon, fresh off a run at WPPAC’s partner in show biz, the Queens Theatre in the Park. WPCNR talked with Ms. Taylor and Mr. Bologna about the popularity of the show around the country.
Ms. Taylor said the show which the couple premiered on Broadway in 1981, “is hysterical. It’s one long laugh. I look forward (each performance) to hearing the people laugh. Of course, we’re older now, and have suggested other people do it, but around the country, but they (the theatres) want us to do it.”
Mr. Bologna said that their closest friend, the late comic and musician, the great Steve Allen, called them up after having seen their movie of It Had to Be You, saying it was the funniest movie he had ever seen. “When he called us to tell us that, we had to meet,” and we became close friends, Bologna recalled. He recalled “Steve was a marvelous talent. Such a nice person.”
The playwright, Ms. Taylor, says It Had to Be You’s appeal is funny and very romantic: “When Joe says I love you at the end of the show, the audience stands and applauds because the way it’s set up you have to.”
The Last Traveling Acting Couple.
WPCNR asked the dynamic creative duo if they were the last of the acting couples on stage. They thought for a moment and mentioned Stiller and Meara, Ann Jackson and Eli Wallach, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, but noted those couples rarely peform any more. So, at this writing then WPCNR will dub them the Last of the Traveling Actor Couples.
Mr. Bologna and Ms. Taylor have three shows they perform in around the country, tonight’s, and If You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going With You, and Ms. Taylor’s moving portrayal of Golda. It Had to Be You, Mr. Bologna said travels light with two sets, one based on the West Coast, the other on the East Coast , and their “company” consists of themselves, their Stage Manager and assistant.
Bologna said an agent books their shows into theaters around the country, and the deal depends on the kind of theatre they play in. For a single house with a short run like White Plains Performing Arts Center, they receive a straight fee, while if playing an extended run in a city such as Chicago, they would receive perhaps a fee and a percentage of the house.
The actor noted that the theatres they play in range from large centers what book them for short runs and others that book a long run. He said that regional theatre consists of some theatres of longstanding reputation that make money, while others are provided at a subsidy to provide arts to a region. He notes one in Rio Dos, New Mexico, North of El Paso, that is run by a wealthy person to provide an arts experience for West Texas who use the nearby resorts.
The Jewish woman-Italian man from New York jokes and writing play very well no matter where the couple perform the show, Bologna said.
Bologna said, based on his traveling show experience, the best ticket is the one time paying customer, who goes to the theatre because they want to and the worst is “the comp” who is really not that interested in the show. He notes the best audiences are on Saturday nights and Sunday Matinees.
Fast moving, Fast Talking Fast Laughs Fresh.
Asked about keeping their show fresh every time they do it, Ms. Taylor said, “We’re funnier now,” and says “the show changes every time we do it, a line here, a line there.”
Sometimes, Bologna says, they have to change the show because of a problem, and it improves the show. “Once we had a sightline problem in the First Act,” Joe remembered, ” I could not be seen when I was sitting on the bed, so I started walking around the stage so that part of the theatre would see me. It worked so well we kept it in the show. Things happen. When something goes wrong you have to adjust to it. “
Every performance, Ms. Taylor says the pair find themselves doing and saying things in our lines that “are part of us.”
Mystery of Love
Mr. Bologna said It Had to Be You is about “the mystery of love, the joy of two people finding each other and creating together. Ms. Taylor, the writer said, “There’s a knowing when she meets him (in Act One) he is the one. She chooses him and she creates him, or you would say he creates her.”
Taylor said, “I’m seeing the mystery of their romance, too.”
The couple said that in Act One, she pursues him, and in Act Two, he pushes her away. Bologna said that the play is also about “Entitlement, you’re entitled to have it all in life — romance, love, success of deciding not to settle, but to have love and be successful and deciding you can have that.”
The Stage is Different. Two Approaches.
Bologna said he preferred to come in for a show very close to the start of the performance to feel “an edge” prior to coming on stage. While Ms. Taylor said she preferred to arrive two hours before curtain and slowly slip into the character she plays.
Her husband said he much preferred the stage, because “you love the venue or medium that allows you to fully explore the role. In film you just have to get one take, and get it right. In television, it’s hard because you’re so rushed.
Bologna said “it’s easy to phone it in, (a performance)” but he prides himself on never doing that.
Bologna gave a few tips on how an argument between a couple should go. Both have to be equal, he says, if one is more aggressive, the audience does not appreciate it. Equality of adversary is essential to writing and playing a lover’s quarrel, he says, and there is a good one in Act Two.
So Lucky
“Every night, I am so lucky to do what I do,” Bologna said, “with the woman I love.”
Taylor said, It Had to Be You, allows them to fall in love again every time they do the show.
The couple invite patrons to come back stage and talk with them about the show.
Asked who has the best lines in It Had to Be You, Ms. Taylor said she does.
SET AWAITS IT HAD TO BE YOU AT White Plains Performing Arts Center Photo by WPCNR StageCam
